Insects as Pets

Insects as Pets

Insects are characterised by a number of features including (most often):-

A 3 part body, the head, the thorax and the abdomen.

3 pairs of jointed legs.

Compound eyes(two “eyes” that in fact are a multitudeof may smaller eyes positioned closely together

Two antennae.

Insects are the most populous of all the animal types both in terms of physical numbers of creatures and numbers of species. They come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes colours and appearances most often they have a pupil stage, making live above or below on the land or water. In some varieties such as the mosquito the larval variety commences life with gills was later on they develop lungs. Some are herbivores, some are carnivores some are omnivores, some will only eat nectar some once they reach their adult stage do not eat at all

So what insects are suitable to keep as pets? There are plenty of insects that can be kept as pets, and there are many benefits to an insect pet.

They are short lived so if your interest outgrows them, you can simply let them go back where you found them.

They require little care, and in most cases prefer no handling at all.

They will be cheap to feed and house.

Common insects kept as pets include crickets, stick insects, preying mantis, lady beetles, dragonfly larvae(these can be found in ponds) beetles(they chirp however, so should be kept out of children’s bedrooms at night.insects make great pets for people who are on the road. In Australia there are many national parks in which dogs and cats cannot be taken to fewer children are missing their pets was travelling through such areas I highly recommend allowing them to catch local insects, keep them in a container, observe them, and let them go up a few days and replace them with new ones.

Especially fun and easy to keep, are lacewings. In their larval stage they are better known as ant lions. These fierce creatures dig holes in sand, and then wait at the bottom for an insect to stumble into it. They can detect nearby insects as they sense grains of sand being knocked into their hole, which prompts the ant lion to start throwing sand around to try and knock the insect to the bottom.

Once the insect (usually an ant thus the name ant lion) falls to the bottom of the pit, the ant lion sinks its large mandibles into the insect, and proceeds to drag the insect under the sand where the insect is suffocated, and then the mandibles which are hollow like a syringe, are then used to suck out the inner juices of the insect….After some weeks of this behaviour, the larval transforms into an insect very similar in appearance to a fragile dragonfly. The adults are similarly carnivorous…. but nearly as fun to keep as pets and are best left to fly away.

And lines are extremely widespread throughout Australia, you will generally find them in sandy areas where there came shaped holes are a giveaway to their existence.

Useful insects as hobby animals Insects such as Bees and Silkworms can be kept as hobby animals, for the production of honey, and silk. In the case of bees is the adult worker bees that are providing the service to humans, in the case of silkworms it’s the juvenile that provides the service in the form of its silken[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]